


The Pallad Saga

by Inquartata (mackillian), skyllianhamster



Series: Tessera [9]
Category: Mass Effect: Andromeda
Genre: Arachnophobia, Comfort, F/F, Fluff, Gen, Happy Ending, Humor, Kid Fic, Lost Pet, Thaia Uses the Word Fuck Like Punctuation, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, parenting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-16
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2019-10-28 09:11:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 3,725
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17784611
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mackillian/pseuds/Inquartata, https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyllianhamster/pseuds/skyllianhamster
Summary: There isn't a parenting manual for what to do when your daughter decides an arachnid twice the size of a toddler needs to share your home. Thaia, an arachnophobic parent, wishes there was.





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Am I supposed to be scared?”

**The Nexus, sometime in the future.**

“Am I _supposed_ to be scared?” asked Aella.

“No,” Lexi said from the other side of the room.

“ _Yes_ ,” said Thaia, holding their youngest daughter behind her, thereby placing her own body between Aella and the terrible beast in the middle of the living room because she _loved_ her daughter and there were only four other people on the list of people she’d do this for and three of them were Aella’s older sisters and one was Aella’s mother, but with her whole ‘telling their daughter she shouldn’t be scared of the terrifying creature’ thing, Lexi might not be on that list for much longer.

“Thaia, it’s harmless,” said Lexi.

“Nothing _harmless_ has that many legs.”

“I think its face is cute,” said Aella.

“That’s because you’re five and don’t know any better,” said Thaia. “I don’t care what anyone says, miniature pallads are not cute and absolutely no one should be riding them, especially a five-year-old. Now, cover your eyes because—”

“Don’t you dare hurt Snow!” Anahera shouted as she ran from the hallway and slid to a stop next to Lexi.

“I’m sorry, but it has to—” Thaia stopped and looked in disbelief at Anahera. “Did you _name_ this thing?”

“He’s my pet. He lives here, too. So you can’t hurt him.”

“What?” Thaia’s question emerged as little more than a whisper. 

Anahera crossed her arms and lifted her chin in challenge. “I adopted him, so he’s part of the family now.”

Thaia looked between the pallad, Anahera, and Lexi until she settled on Lexi. “Not one,” Thaia said slowly, “not a single one of the countless parenting books you had me read had a chapter on arachnophobia and what to do when your daughter decides an arachnid twice the size of a toddler needs to share your home.”

** Minutes Earlier... **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to [skyllianhamster](https://archiveofourown.org/users/skyllianhamster/pseuds/skyllianhamster) for the prompt and the illustration!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “Tell me she’s lying.”

** The Nexus, sometime in the future. **

“Where are your sisters?” Thaia asked when Anahera and Aella didn’t leave their bedroom with the other two when Thaia got back. Nothing that bad could’ve happened. She’d been gone for all of fifteen minutes and just three apartments over the whole time, reassuring Dr. Teleon once again that, no, it wasn’t any of her daughters trampling his flowerbeds, they knew better than to destroy anything that helped supply oxygen to the station, for the love of the goddess, go take it up with Kandros for all she cared. 

“Snow’s missing,” said Zahra.

That Thaia managed even a vaguely neutral expression should’ve earned her a fucking medal. “Oh, no. How unfortunate.”

No, too deadpan. She might have to apologize later.

But they couldn’t have gotten _that_ attached to it. It hadn’t been around the apartment long enough.

Had it?

Better she not contemplate how long the giant arachnid had been in her home. Lurking. With Thaia entirely unaware, especially while asleep.

_Asleep_.

Standing over her? Watching her with those big, bulging eyes? Its fangs—didn’t matter that they were technically mandibles, they looked like fucking fangs—clacking in anticipation?

Honestly, Thaia might never recover.

Zahra frowned at her. Rather critically, too. Looked a lot like Lexi when she did that. “Mum, she’s really upset. You can’t even do the pretending not to be bothered thing. You’ll make her more upset if you do.”

It was cute of her child to think Thaia was _pretending_ to be unbothered by the disappearance of the it-had-no-business-being-that-fucking-big arachnid. However, since Thaia loved her daughters, and _was_ bothered when they were upset, she focused on them, their emotions, and the facts of the case.

“How did he even escape? He doesn’t have opposable thumbs.” 

“Aella left the front door open. He must’ve gotten out then,” said Carian.

Well, now Thaia knew which child would be getting an extra dessert.

“Then Aella went after him,” said Zahra.

“…she’s not with Anahera?”

“No.”

Worry instantly clawed at Thaia’s heart.Her rational mind did its best to fight it. Everyone knew everyone in their apartment block. Everyone knew the children often pelting through the neighborhood. Everyone knew that if someone was up to any mischief, it was probably either one of the T’Perro or Kallistrate sisters and most likely all of them together. Someone would’ve seen her. Not only that, but the kids all knew their way around.

And this was just Aella. Louder than all three of her sisters combined. Thaia was a former commando and hadn’t lost any of her skills and if she’d tracked down turian Blackwatch-trained scouts before, she could track down an asari five-year-old.

Besides, it wasn’t like Aella could make her way off the Nexus.

Wait. Yes, she could.

The worry roared back.

“Tell me she’s lying,” Thaia said to Zahra.

“I’m not lying,” Anahera said from the end of the hallway.”She was all crumply-faced so this was really serious and there was no way she’d lied.

_Fuck_.

“What are you going to do?” Zahra asked as she put an arm around Anahera.

“First thing I’m going to do is contact Kesh and have her call a ground stop for the Nexus.”

“What’s a ground stop?” asked Carian.

“All flights into and out of the station are halted until further notice.”

Carian’s eyes widened. “You think she left the station?”

“If anyone could, Aella could,” said Anahera, who sounded both worried and proud.

Which, where Aella was concerned, was Thaia’s constant state of mind.

“If she sneaked onto someone’s ship, I kinda feel bad for the ship’s crew,” said Zahra.

Carian covered her mouth, trying and failing to stifle a laugh.

They weren’t wrong, either.

If Aella went on a tear, the crew would voluntarily turn the ship right back around and return to the Nexus to drop off the tiny miscreant. If Aella got a wild scale across her ass, she’d probably somehow hijack the ship. Mostly accidentally.

Doing her best not to panic, Thaia activated her omni. She needed to message Kesh. And then she needed to tell Lexi.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “I’ll find her and bring her home. I promise.”

** The Nexus, sometime in the future. **

While Thaia slowly spun the stray datapad she’d found on the kitchen counter, she alternated looking at Lexi on her omni and their kids in the living area who were _supposed_ to be doing homework but Thaia knew were listening to every single word of her conversation with Lexi.

“How far away are you?” Thaia asked. 

“Kallo assures me it won’t be one minute more than an hour.” Lexi’s tone was calm and measured, but she fiddled with the cuff of her sleeve at the same time. Worried, then. Well, obviously. Any parent would be. “Less,” Lexi continued, “if he can manage it. We’re lucky the Tempest was heading back to the Nexus and not clear on the opposite side of the cluster. But you need to start looking for her before I get back.”

Thaia wanted to be looking for Aella right then but there were three other kids to care for, too. “As soon as Dr. Aridana gets here to watch the others.”

Despite the situation, Lexi somehow managed to look briefly amused. 

Thaia scowled. “What?” She knew what, though.

“She’s been telling you for years that you can use her first name.”

“It’s _weird_.”

Then the door opened to a chorus of “Nomi!” from piping little voices.

Lexi gave Thaia an incredibly pointed look that said: _If they can use it, there’s no reason you can’t_.

Weird was a valid fucking reason, in Thaia’s opinion, but they could resume that ongoing argument later. “She’s here.” Then she stood up straight, preparing to head out.

“Thaia,” Lexi said, the worry she’d tried to hide hollowing her voice.

Thaia tried to settle the breakneck pace of her pulse as held eye contact with Lexi. “I’ll find her and bring her home. I promise.”

Lexi nodded. “I’ll message you when we reach the Nexus.”

“I’ll keep you updated.” Thaia took another breath and then ended the comm.

Dr. Aridana had taken maybe two steps inside when all three children flew toward her in a rush to tell her everything. “Thaia, go,” she said as the girls recounted what’d happened. “I have this.”

A nod, and then Thaia slipped out the door.

Luckily, tracking Aella proved easy. She left signs of her passing everywhere—small footprints through the muddy remains of Dr. Teleon’s flowerbed; thick, brown mud tracked through the upper floor the Commons Hydroponics; mud scraped off onto a stair leading to the lower level of Hydroponics; and broken off leaves littering a meandering line below the deciduous trees and into the next environment block.

There, on tall, dusty red rock that might’ve actually been imported from Eos, sat a dejected Aella, legs drawn up to her chest and chin resting on her knees.

_Thank the fucking goddess._

Thaia’s lungs finally remembered how to work properly.

No pallad though.

She decided not to think about what it meant that she wasn’t that happy about there being no pallad and concentrated on the fact that she’d found her wayward youngest child.

“You’re not mad, are you?” Aella asked as Thaia approached with audible footsteps because the last thing anyone needed was Aella falling off the rock and ending up with a head injury.

“No. Scared the shit out of us, though. Next time, tell us if you’re going out and bring backup since you’re all of five.” Thaia activated her omni and sent off a quick update to Lexi and Dr. Aridana that she’d found Aella. 

Then it hit her.

Pallads were from Eos and Aella was sitting on a rock from Eos in the desert plants part of Hydroponics. “How did you know to look here?” she asked when she stood next to Aella. The rock was tall enough that it put her level with Thaia’s head, making Thaia idly wonder what Aella’s adult height would be. Taller than Lexi, probably. All of them. 

Shit, that’d be funny when it happened.

“I looked up Snow’s—” Aella’s brow scrunched up in thought. “Bionome?”

“Biome.” Safira had taught Thaia that, a long time ago. She hadn’t forgotten.

“Yes! I looked it up on the extranet. Since pallads are from Eos, I thought I should look here.”

“That’s pretty clever,” Thaia said with a warm smile.

Aella didn’t share in her smile. “It didn’t work.”

“Maybe not, but it _was_ the idea that had the best chance at working.” 

Aella didn’t look any less morose.

Sighing, Thaia scooped her up from the rock. “Come on, let’s get you home. It’s late, you’ve missed dinner, and I wouldn’t put it past Zahra to steal your dessert if you aren’t there to defend it.”

“Dad, that was you last time,” Aella said, wrapping her arms around Thaia’s neck.

“Maybe.” Her daughter’s solid little body in her arms and no longer out somewhere and missing settled Thaia’s heart to a steady beat. “But someone else had stolen mine.”

“That was me,” Aella whispered.

“I know,” Thaia whispered back.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: “You came back.”

** The  Nexus, sometime in the future. **

“You have to go back out,” said Lexi from where they stood in the kitchen, observing Aella recount her adventures to her sisters.

“What?” asked Thaia. “ _Why_?”

“You’re missing someone.”

Thaia pointed. “No, all four of them are right there. I know because I counted five times within five seconds when we came in. Look, I just counted again. They’re all still there.”

“The _pallad_ , Thaia.”

Thaia made a face. Luckily, none of the children had been looking in her direction when she did.

Lexi crossed her arms, which was a warning if there ever was one. “Do you want one or more them to go out looking for him again?”

Fuck. Good point. “No.”

“Then please go bring the pallad home.”

“All right.” Thaia sighed and got up from the stool she’d been sitting on at the kitchen counter.

“You need to promise,” Lexi said before she’d even taken a step.

“I promise I’ll bring the pallad home.” Thaia had done her best to sound convincing. She had.

“Alive,” Lexi said, ticking each word on her fingers, “and uninjured.”

“Goddess, _fine_. I promise to bring the pallad home alive and uninjured if at all possible and, if I can’t, it won’t be from something I did or didn’t do.” She _would_ find him. It was clear her daughters would be pitiful, broken-hearted messes if she didn’t.

It wasn’t until she was outside the apartment _again_ that she realized she had no idea how the fuck to track down a pallad.

Ten seconds later, she belatedly realized that her five-year-old possessed more smarts than she did in the field of biology.

On her omni, Thaia pulled up the extranet article about miniature pallads. It said stuff about Eos, but Snow hadn’t been in the only Eos-like place on the Nexus.

Dead end.

And she was only about twenty centimeters from the apartment’s front door.

Fuck.

The door opened and her dad stuck her head out. “If you’re going to pretend to look, you could at least pretend while out of sight.”

“I’m not pretending. I just don’t know shit about pallads other than they look like fucking arachnids and my kids think one miniature pallad in particular is their pet.”

“Snow _is_ their pet.”

She wasn’t going to fucking acknowledge it. “Anyway, I promised Lexi I’d look for real. And bring it back alive if at all possible.”

“Good on her to get that specific promise out of you.”

Thaia rolled her eyes.

“Well,” said Sula, “you find him and you can’t bring yourself to get within five meters of him, send me a message. I’ll herd him back home for the low, low price of giving you shit about it for the next decade.”

“What a bargain.” Then Thaia walked away before her dad could add anything else, because Sula _always_ had more to add.

In Hydroponics, Thaia halted again because she still had no fucking clue where to look.

Then she thought about what biologists she knew.

Oh, Suvi.

Thaia messaged her.

> You know anything about miniature pallads?

Suvi answered surprisingly fast.

> _Why? Are your daughters looking to adopt a friend for Snow?_

> No. And don’t give them ideas. I need to know because Snow’s escaped and is somewhere on the Nexus. I think.

> _I’d help if I could, but my specialty is molecular biology. Have you tried asking Ryder? I know that quite a few years back Professor Herik had her catalogue a whole list of Andromeda wildlife._

> Worth a try.

> _Good luck! Say hello to the girls for me_.

> Will do. Thanks.

Thaia closed the window and immediately opened another to Ryder.

> Know anything about miniature pallads?

Ryder answered suspiciously fast and Thaia suspected she and Suvi were in the same place and possibly had already been messaged by Lexi.

> _I know that the one your kids have is adorable and needs a friend_.

> No.

> _Someone has to advocate for them. Good news is that I know a little more about pallads. If they don’t have a place to nest in like Snow does in his bed at your apartment_ —

> Snow has a _bed_?

> _If he hasn’t been chewing wires all over your apartment, yes_.

A _bed_. Fuck.

> So what you’re saying is that I should be looking for chewed up access panels?

> _Yeah_.

> How do you know this?

> _Long story._

> Oh, one of those. Well, I’m going to go find a bunch of sparking wires. Have fun with Suvi and tell Peebee she isn’t allowed to give my kids presents anymore without clearing them with Lexi first.

Thaia closed out the program and began her search.

Her long search.

Fucking _hours_ of searching. 

Hours she spent also constantly reminding herself that she loved her children and if she didn’t find the pallad they would be very, very sad, and Lexi would be sad, and Sula would be sad, and Dr. Aridana would be sad, and Thaia would feel terrible that everyone else was sad.

And maybe she’d be a little sad, too.

Thaia ran across the pallad in a shadowed cargo area in the Ishara Ward, catching sight of his white carapace dully reflecting the low-level lighting. 

When he saw her, he wriggled out from where he’d wedged himself between two cargo containers.

She did not scream.

However, the opposite side of the room from him wasn’t far enough away.

Staying in the same spot, he lifted his front legs.

Sort of like he was waving.

At her.

But that would be absurd.

He did it again. 

The fuck?

Maybe she _should_ scream.

But then that could scare the pallad and she’d have broken her promise to Lexi and she didn’t break promises.

The pallad slowly made its way to the middle of the room and then stopped.

She stared at the pallad.

The pallad stared back.

She stared at the pallad.

The pallad stared back.

Then he waved one leg and wiggled his—thorax? Abdomen? His butt. It was his butt.

And she had no idea what to think about the rest of his weird-ass behavior.

Well, there was no one else here to overhear and she’d heard all four kids speaking to this thing at one point or another and if she didn’t get him back to the apartment soon and instead was forced to keep standing in this darkened room looking the embodiment of her fear in the eyes she might have a fucking coronary.

So, she talked. To the pallad. “The kids are sad that you aren’t there.”

He tilted his head to the side.

Apparently her statement called for further clarification. “Not me, to be clear. But when they’re sad, I’m sad.”

He jumped a few centimeters into the air.

Thaia jumped _several_ centimeters into the air and her heart tried to wrestle itself out of her fucking chest.

Then he took a step toward her, a couple steps back, rose up on his rear legs, and then trotted toward the door.

“The fuck are you doing?”

Snow stopped and looked at her. Took another step toward the door and looked at her. Took a step back. Took a couple more steps toward the door and then looked at her again.

Thaia was pretty sure it was a pallad’s version of ‘let’s go!’

He went out the door.

She went out the door, also.

Because she was genuinely curious if he _was_ going to the apartment, she followed from at least three meters behind at all times. Also, if he was going to the apartment, she was going to be more than a little concerned.

He _did_ bring them back to the apartment.

She was highly concerned. Frankly, it was worrisome.

Snow trotted to the door, looked back at Thaia, then moved a few meters away and waited.

She rolled her eyes and opened the door. Then she barely had time to leap out of the way when Snow barreled through.

She was going to have a fucking _stroke_.

“You came back!” the four children yelled as they ran towards them.

Thaia was only slightly offended when they hugged the pallad instead of her. As in, they happily threw their arms around Snow’s neck and snuggled right up close.

It took all the restraint Thaia had not to pull their faces away from those fangs. 

Mandibles.

Things that should never be near the cheeks of small children.

Especially her children.

Fuck it, she was going to gently aid them in not being so fucking close to the pallad’s face.

Then Aella said, “You rescued Dad and brought her back!”

What the the fuck? They thought _Snow_ had rescued _her_?

Now she was fully offended.

“How was it, being rescued by your worst fear?” Lexi asked as she moved to stand next to Thaia.

And placed a hand on her arm.

It was a firm grip, so it was one meant to prevent Thaia from intervening between the pallad and their daughters because Lexi knew Thaia far too well.

“ _I_ rescued _him_!” Thaia frowned. “Herded him? You know what? We reached a mutual accord to individually return here. And we did. That’s all.”

Lexi laughed.

Thaia kept a wary eye on that weird fucking pallad.

Then Lexi said, “Thank you for finding her.” She paused. “And the pallad.”

“You’re welcome for finding our kid.”

“And?”

“And I’m glad that I did because she’s irreplaceable?”

“And you’re impossible.” 

Thaia took the chance to quickly smile at her. “You love me for it.”

It brought a smile to Lexi’s face. “I do.” Then she drew her down into a thorough, promising kiss.


	5. Hello, Friend

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Write a scene in which your OC faces their fears. No more than 300 words.

Thaia’s eyes snapped open, but she didn’t know why.

Lexi was asleep next to her. None of their daughters were climbing into the bed and shaking them awake and _demanding_  that a Strange Noise Needed To Be Investigated Right The Fuck Now Or They’d Never Sleep Again Ever.

Well, without using the word ‘fuck.’

Their eldest had used it once and brilliantly within context.

Thaia had been proud. Lexi less so.

However, because Thaia was the former commando, investigations into weird-ass noises and their possible monster origins fell to her.

Which meant she should probably check on the kids, just to be sure.

She rolled over.

And then froze.

Right there, standing next to her bed, his face fucking _centimeters_  from hers, was Snow, her family’s pet—grudgingly, in Thaia’s case—miniature pallad.

Except there wasn’t anything _miniature_  about him at all because he was tall enough that his head was level with the top of the bed.

Level with Thaia’s face.

Right there.

Centimeters away.

Standing on more legs than any living thing had a right to possess.

Resting his head on the mattress.

With round, bulging eyes and those mandibles that looked a lot like fangs and no one was fucking convincing her they _weren’t_  fangs.

Right fucking there.

Thaia couldn’t breathe.

Snow tilted his head to the side.

Thaia was pretty sure her heart stopped.

She was going to die and Snow would be the only witness.

And the _cause_  because he looked like a _giant fucking arachnid_.

Snow scooted his head forward.

Closer.

Thaia screamed.

Without moving, Lexi heaved an aggrieved sighed and said from under the covers, “This is the third time this week. He isn’t going to hurt you. Give him a pat on the head and go back to sleep.”


End file.
